Farmers Insurance Group reviews

Over the past two years the company has done nothing but take and take. The pension plan, long an attractant for top talent, was cut off, even for those already vested. Those with 10 years or greater of tenure were 'grandfathered' in, but in looking at when they ramped up hiring, and the fact that employees vested after 5 years, it is easy to see the company was merely looking to shirk its financial responsibility in that regard. Profit sharing, the company's fully funded version of a 401(k), is also gone after this year, replaced with a 401(k) matching 100% up to 6%. Sounds good, until you realize that under profit sharing the company put an additional 15% of your base salary into the same type of account and employees contributed nothing - there was also the possibility of up to 5% bonus in cash. Vacation/sick time have been converted into 'PTO' - good for some but not others. Overall amount of time has declined drastically, but everyone got a couple of extra days they could call 'vacation' (vs sick). Health insurance is a joke - prices shot up quite a bit, and even the $1000 'seed money' for an HSA (only available under the high deductible plan) charges $3 a month in maintenance fees. Some of you may say that times are tough, so it doesn't seem so bad, but these changes were set in stone BEFORE the economy came crashing down. And the management has the gall to tell us that these lesser benefits are costing the company MORE. If that's they case, the person that made that decision needs to be canned, but under the good ole boy system that exists they won't. Speaking of the good ole boy system, the company has also proven at every turn it's not what you know but who you know when it comes to promotions. The company is definitely milking the downturn for all it's worth, underrating employees on reviews to avoid higher raises, overworking salaried employees so that they don't have to pay for more (note: salaried does not equal slavery), knowing that folks won't leave until they get something else lined up. One person in upper management even had the gall to send out an email telling employees that they should just be happy they have a job and stop complaining about the way they are being treated. Not the type of company I'd like to stay with, in my opinion.

Some of their processes are not very customer friendly. Not all people in the service centers know exactly what to do and have conflicting information so it can be frustrating trying to get things resolved quickly. When first starting as an agent, you only receive commissions only on sales. Unless you know a lot of people who will buy insurance from you, you won't get paid. Self-employment can be a downside also since all expenses such as advertising, office space (you can work at home though), employees once you need them, are all up to you to pay for. You can get a lot of Farmers materials for free though to get you started. Another bad thing is that they don't have as many service centers in CA anymore, they are in different states. That can be difficult since people need to be licensed in a different state of their own, different rules to follow so not everyone will be as knowledgable.